How to Improve Front Door Security

Preventing the emotional impact of a burglary through better home security goes further than dealing with the consequences after you have experienced a break-in. The front door of your home acts as the gateway to your home, and if a burglar can slip past the front door security, they will have full access to the home. For that reason, you should amp up the security at the front door. Here at DS Locksmith, we have put together a list of ways to improve your front door security.

You want to ensure that a burglar can’t simply kick or force the door open. In particular, wooden doors have a weakness to this.

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We have seen it countless times where the person upgraded their locks, but they never put a critical eye on their door frame and the door itself. If the door or garage door frame gives in, the lock won’t stop a burglar.

Front Door

Enhance your front door security with a strike plate made from metal. The strike plate uses long screws drilled into the sides of the door frame. You can order a strike plate online, and if you don’t know how to install it, call us. We will help. You want it to hold, or it will do no good to invest in a strike plate. Next, let’s have a look at the door frame. Check the door frame to ensure the construction has it bolted to the surrounding walls. You might install special bars to increase the strength of the lock and reinforce the hinges. Hinge bolts add to the security through keeping the door from getting forced off its hinges.

A lot of people buy window doors because they add an aesthetic beauty to the home, and they put more light into the home. Burglars can simply break the glass, and if the window exists near the lock, they will enter the home.

Let’s say that you don’t want to get rid of your beautiful window door. You can reinforce the glass to keep it from getting broken easily. In addition, you might install burglar bars over the top of the window lock to ensure that even if they break the window, they can’t get through.

You should check to see that you don’t have rusted, busted or old locks because this lowers the strength of the locks and make them easier to break. For this especially, you will want to call in a locksmith to check the locks for you. They can also ensure that you upgrade to a lock that will give you greater security.

For UPVC doors and wooden doors, use a lock that has, “British Standard.” This ensures the lock endured rigorous tests to guarantee the strength of it.

If you have a lot of valuables, you want to protect them. Use high security locks or anti-snap locks to increase the security of your front door. Granted, the locks cost more, but you don’t want to worry that a burglar will come along and open the door. Before you upgrade to different locks, you also need to check with your insurance company. You want to make sure that you remain compliant with them so that they can’t deny your claim if something bad were to happen.

Doors will only have as much as strength as the lock that holds them in place. Because of that, you want to do what you can to put the best lock on your front door. It can go a long way to sending burglars in the other direction. You have to check to see that the lock will extend far enough into the door to provide you with the right level of security. At a minimum, you want the deadbolt to cover 2.5 centimeters, and the more the better.

While we never outright say that you need the most expensive deadbolt on the market, you also don’t want the cheapest. A little extra cash splurged on this part of the door can mean the difference between a successful break-in and a failed one.

Never get a door without a deadbolt because this adds to your home security. When you have the deadbolt in place, it provides an additional level of security. You can’t move a deadbolt to the open position except with a key.

Have a locksmith install the deadbolt if necessary because they can make sure that you have a well-made one, and they can install it properly. This ensures that you get the maximum level of security.

In general, deadbolts resist forced entry, and because they don’t use a spring, burglars can’t jimmy them with a knife.

The double cylinder deadbolt works well in a case where you have glass on your door, but it hinders your exit in the chance of a fire. You have keyless deadbolts as well, and this works with a fingerprint or a password, but the technology also adds another security vulnerability.

Finally, you have the single cylinder deadbolt, which is the simplest of the three and the most common. Keep in mind, however, this will also be the most vulnerable lock when you have breakable glass.

You might install better lighting near your front door to ensure that criminals can’t enter your property easily without being seen. This helps you on dark winter nights, and it puts an extra layer of security on your home.

Burglars love to operate under the cover of darkness, and they can’t do this if you have a light that spooks them away.

In general, when burglars search for a home, they will look for easy prey. They don’t want to get caught. For that reason, they don’t target homes where they will have a bad time. They usually seek the homes that don’t have enough security, or they have things that they can easily steal without getting caught.

Many burglars have even said that if a home has too much security, they won’t bother with it. Dogs have also proven a known deterrent to many burglars because they don’t want to get bit. Keep in mind, burglars thrive on opportunity, and if they think that they can hit your house a second or third time, they will often do it. That’s why you need to take measures to keep your home from inviting them in.